There is new information that suggests all the science behind determining that stress kills the driven executive is just bunk. In fact, it's good to be the king, or at least it's good to be the boss rather than the garden-variety employee.

In an article for Scientific American, psychology professor Keith Payne argues research is wrong when it says that executives – because of the tough business decisions they need to make – are more prone to bad health, like heart attacks and ulcers. In fact, much of the research on the subject is based on a study from the 1950s involving Rhesus monkeys, not actual businessmen. Researchers shocked some monkeys to see how they dealt with stress, leaving other monkeys free from shock. Not surprisingly, the rhesus monkeys with the bigger jolt found themselves keeling over with stomach ulcers and the like.

"There are of course two problems with an executive monkey: the executive and the monkey," Payne wrote. "For Rhesus monkeys are not people, and controlling electric shocks is not making business decisions."

That, Payne says, echoes research from Great Britain that showed stress rises the further down the organizational chart you are, where "each rung down the ladder is associated with more stress-related health problems, including the biggest health problem of all, death."